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What One Story Did by Leah Bruno
It was a satisfying Friday evening for the volunteers, as signified by the celebratory presence of pizza and s’mores. In less than two hours, we’d succeeded in spreading nearly an entire truckload of ground cover around the barn, which was home to 13 miniature therapy horses and 3 donkeys. At the picnic table, I bit…
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High Crosses of Ireland by Dixie Walljasper
In the spring of 2015 I had the pleasure of joining Semester Abroad Ireland sponsored by Mesa community college. For the month of June, the participants each took two classes one being Irish storytelling and the second being the Ancient History of Ireland. We had storytelling classes every day in history classes in the afternoon with Friday…
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A Special Poem by Joan Misek
I started to read Irish Poems to learn some special stories. One after another and nothing rang a bell until I read “A DREAM” Beauty! Truth! I knew I’d like to share this poem: A DREAM By William Allingham. Born in the moonlight of the lane, Quench’d in the heavy shadow again. Schoolmates, marching as when…
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“Power to the People”- A review of trickster tales by Gail Kimzin
I am fascinated by underdogs. They are small, unrepresented, and oppressed yet have the keen instinct to survive in a world that they do not control. The underdog seizes small and often risky opportunities to even the playing field or even to get ahead. This is a universal character in many folktales known as the…
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What are Memes? by Sharon Winters
The first time I saw the word “meme” was about two years ago when I was studying German because my husband and I were going to Berlin where he was born. I used the “Memrize” application on my iPhone to learn about three hundred words in German and each German word came with a meme,…
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Telling Stories – A Radical Act by Nirit Simon
Ever since I was a very little girl, I have been greatly annoyed by gender stereotypes. I would be more upstanding, I know, if I said that I was annoyed by stereotypes in general, about race, religion, and so on, but this would not be the truth. Gender stereotypes in particular grate on my…
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Connecting to Family Through Story by Abbey Messmer
What a joy it is to share stories. Personally, I'm working on the telling part but I love to listen. I've always been a good listener, but through studying storytelling, we learn to be even more conscious with our ears. When you listen to family stories, you learn about your tribe, your people. You get…
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A Man’s World by Joan Misek
I have been thinking of the 2016 Presidential Election and have recently read an article in Time Magazine with the title, “A distressing summer of workplace sexism reminds us how far we have to go.” How will the election affect women in the place they work? My mind wandered to an earlier time. I had…
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Finding the Sacred in the Everyday by Phyllis Ralley
My Grandma used this treadle sewing machine her whole life, and then my Mom and I used it too. It requires no electricity and is driven when you rock the treadle back and forth. This machine will sew anything, which the scar on the palm side of the most expressive finger on my left hand…
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A Sacred Family Story by Elizabeth Wunsch
It has been a long week and a half. Unknowingly so until today. For two consecutive Mondays, I accompanied my mother’s sister, my Aunt, to medical appointments here in Phoenix. Concerns with her memory. Now mind you, my Aunt is 83 years old and the most active of individuals. Seemingly sharp and aware. But in…
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Sleep With Me: Stories That Put You to Sleep by Myranette Robinson
My husband gives me anything that has the word “story” in it. A few weeks ago, he told me about a pod cast that puts people to sleep. It’s called Sleep with Me. The host is Drew Ackerman. Mr. Ackerman says he got his start when he and his brother used to tell each other…
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All Sacred to Me by Nancy Wolter
As I sit and compose this blog post for Liz Warren’s Sacred Storytelling class, I can’t help but wish for the divine revelation, the inspiration and guidance that seems to be a part of the sacred storytelling tradition. After all, it is All Saint’s Day. As a former Catholic, I know that’s when the saints…